Quick! What’s the one computer product category that grew 5000% in sales last year? Nope, it’s not a trick question and no, it’s not the Chumby. It’s none other than the netbook, an ultra-compact, barebones, low-powered notebook computer that usually costs under $500.
It used to be that technological advance meant faster, better quality and cheaper. But today’s consumer under pressure to save money, are increasingly flocking to low cost netbooks as they are usually “good enough” to accomplish everyday tasks. While the high-end power users and gamers will always crave better video cards, faster RAM and system buses, computer hardware has progressed to a point where anything more is overkill. Little wonder the netbook market is growing like weeds.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this.
Back in 1997, the MP3 format came to prominence that took the music industry to a new and very uncomfortable place. While audiophiles and industry pundits poo-poo’d the format for its lossy fidelity, they were completely missing the point — given a decent encoding bitrate, MP3′s were “good enough” for the vast majority of the population. What they lost in quality was gained in convenience, portability and flexibility that the format provides.
Now that we’ve seen the “good enough” effect in technology, I suspect we’re going to start seeing that principle applied to business thinking. We’re already seeing it in software development methodologies, where iterative process and rapid prototyping trade rigor for speed. Getting something out the door quicker and into the market helps validate the concept and clues for future direction. Ryan Jacoby’s ideas about “time to first feedback,” demonstrates this concept deeper. After a few quick-turn Piece together enough clues and you’ll know where to go next.
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